Daum, Jenkins lead Jackrabbits past Pioneers

BROOKINGS – Mike Daum and David Jenkins Jr. combined for 61 points as South Dakota State handled Denver 94-72 in a Summit League men’s basketball matchup Saturday afternoon at Frost Arena.

Daum dropped in 34 points on 10-of-14 shooting in the 26th annual Lamb Bonanza. He went 10-of-11 at the foul line and grabbed eight rebounds.

Jenkins added 27 markers, making eight of 14 shots and going 7-of-7 at the charity stripe.

Both players hit four 3-pointers.

Daum had 21 at the break as the Jackrabbits built a 45-26 lead.

Jenkins scored 19 points in the second half and opened the period with a flurry as SDSU’s advantage reached 26 points on three occasions, the last coming at 59-33 with 15:10 showing on the clock.

The Pioneers never got closer than 15 after that.

“I’m really proud of our team, especially our defensive effort in that first half,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “I thought that was as good of a half defensively as we’ve played as a group this year – to hold a good 3-point shooting team to zero makes, zero free throws, zero assists and only one offensive rebound. Our offense didn’t come to us early but I thought our defense allowed us to get going in transition.

“That’s a Denver team that I feel is very well coached; they have three veteran players with (Daniel) Amigo, (Jake) Pemberton and (Joe) Rosga, who are really good. So we had to have great awareness to them.

“I’m proud of our guys, proud of Reed Tellinghuisen. His ankle wasn’t great today and he fought through it, did everything he needed to do the last 36 hours to be out there for us.

“It was a great team win.”

Tellinghuisen finished with 11 points in 27 minutes of action.

SDSU shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57), including a 12-of-27 mark from long range, and went 20-of-22 on free throws.

South Dakota State (16-5) remained unbeaten in conference play, pushing its mark to 4-0.

The Jackrabbits have won seven consecutive games overall and are undefeated in their last 15 home contests.

“I’m so proud of this team right now, how we’ve kind of come from nonconference schedule to conference schedule and just our ability to focus on the task at hand,” said Daum. “I think that’s really helped us with each game. We just come into the week with a mindset that we have to do this one thing well or we know what they’re doing and we can control our own fate.

“So I’m just super proud of this group of guys right now.”

South Dakota State takes on Western Illinois on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Macomb, Ill.

Notes: Daum made his first 35 free-throw attempts in Summit League play this season before missing Saturday. He’s now 37-of-38 in four games. … Daum has 1,889 career points – 42 out of second place in the Jackrabbit recordbook. He’s still 19th in the Summit League annals. … With 6 minutes remaining, Daum blocked Donoven Carlisle’s layup attempt in transition, pinning the ball against the glass. … Twenty-five of the 33 fouls called in the game came in the second half. Notes (from SDSU Sports Information): Daum hit the 30-point mark in a game for the 19th time in his career and the seventh time this season. … Jenkins, a freshman, has six 20-point games. … Tellinghuisen hit a pair of 3-pointers versus Denver and moved into solo second in school history with 236, passing Austin Hansen (235 from 1999-2003). … Tellinghuisen’s 113 starts are tied for the third most all-time by a Jackrabbit.